What we can learn from shamanic healing: brief psychotherapy with Latino immigrant clients.

A medical anthropologist and licensed psychotherapist draws on a database of 700 Latino immigrant families she has treated to show that psychotherapeutic interventions can be derived from shamanic roots in the immigrants' original cultures. Congruences may exist between shamanic techniques from coastal and Amazonian Peru and three Western psychotherapy techniques: hypnosis, behavior modification, and cognitive restructuring. By using historic links with Hispanic culture and these techniques, psychotherapists can acquire cultural competence to effectively reduce mental illness symptoms in US Latino immigrants in clinical practice.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The author, a medical anthropologist and licensed psychotherapist, draws on a database of 700 Latino immigrant families whom she has treated to demonstrate concepts and techniques of psychotherapeutic intervention that are derived from shamanic roots in the immigrant's original culture. Congruences may exist between the shamanic techniques of the coastal and Amazonian regions of Peru and 3 Western psychotherapy techniques-hypnosis, behavior modification, and cognitive restructuring. By using historic links with Hispanic culture and the techniques discussed in the commentary, psychotherapists can acquire cultural competence that will enable them to effectively reduce mental illness symptoms presented by US Latino immigrants in clinical practice.